WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- Capital Comment -- Daily news notes, political rumors and important events that shape politics and public policy in Washington and the world from United Press International.
Sauce for the goose -- More than one political analyst writing about the recent upheaval in the New Jersey senate race has pointed to a similar situation in the 2001 GOP gubernatorial primary as a reason to suspect that the Democrats will ultimately succeed in their effort to have new ballots printed -- as the New Jersey state Supreme Court ordered late Wednesday.
In 2001 the leading GOP candidate for governor, former state senate President Donnie DiFrancesco, was so badly damaged by corruption charges that he withdrew from the race. The Republican-controlled state legislature then passed a bill that DiFrancesco, in his capacity as acting governor, allowed to become law, changing the filing deadlines to allow a new candidate to be substituted in his place at the last minute.
That candidate, former U.S. Rep. Bob Franks, ended up losing the primary to former Jersey City, N.J., Mayor Bret Schundler -- in part because of the stench of a corrupt bargain emanating from the last minute substitution.
Schundler challenged the move but the New Jersey state Supreme Court ruled against him, saying, "The purpose of the election laws is to afford the maximum opportunity to make a choice." That ruling, as demonstrated Wednesday, boded well for the advocates for the Lautenberg-for-Torricelli substitution. Does the outcome of the 2001 elections augur ill for Democrats in this year's general election?
Solamente Ingles, por favor -- For a fellow who is touted as the next Ronald Reagan, Colorado GOP Gov. Bill Owens' opposition to Amendment 31, a measure to replace bilingual education in the public schools with English immersion classes, may come as something of a surprise. The drive to end bilingual education through the initiative process, underwritten by software millionaire Ron Unz, has already succeeded in California and Arizona and supporters had hoped to add Colorado to the list this fall. Owens' opposition -- based on a provision in the bill to allow parents to sue school officials for up to 10 years if it can be determined that the grant of a parentally requested wavier somehow injured the child -- will likely doom the effort. Supporters hold out hope that Owens remains committed to the concept even if he is opposed to the specific language on which the voters will render a decision in November.
One, two switcheroo -- Republicans would do well to pull a "Torricelli" in Pennsylvania, according to a new poll of 573 registered voters by Millersville University. The Keystone Poll, conducted Sept. 26-29, shows former DNC chairman and Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell thumping Republican Attorney General Mike Fisher in the race for governor, 45 percent to 30 percent. The same poll shows current Gov. Mark Schweicker, the former lieutenant governor who took over the top job when GOP Gov. Tom Ridge became head of federal homeland security, leading Rendell 47 percent to 29 percent. The data has led some wags to suggest that the GOP should find a way to take Fisher's name off the ballot and replace it with Schweicker.
The other alternative, say some, is for Fisher to actually let the voters in Pennsylvania know who he is. Rendell has a respectable but hardly stellar 43 percent favorable, 19 percent unfavorable rating in the poll but Fisher comes in with 19 percent favorable, 21 percent unfavorable -- almost absurdly low numbers for a major party candidate in what is supposed to be a competitive election for governor in the country's fourth largest state.
Staying put -- If the suggestion that Ed Gillespie would replace Ari Fleischer as presidential press secretary if Fleischer moved on at year's end was a trial balloon, consider it burst. When asked if he was taking the job, Gillespie, who is one of the most influential Republican strategists in Washington, smiled and said, "No, no, no, no, no." Perhaps he is busy making room in his form of Quinn/Gillespie for retiring House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, his former boss and mentor.
Ring-a-ding-ding -- A reporter asked Vice President Gore after a Washington speech why he stopped wearing his wedding ring. Smiling at his wife, Tipper, in the audience, he retorted "Because I've gained so much weight , I couldn't get it off. As the audience roared with laughter, Gore added "Actually... I could get it off. I couldn't get it back on again." Gore said a lot of things have changed since he left office. "I don't fly on government planes anymore," he said so he had leave the group to get to the airport on a trip to Tennessee. "I have to get there early to take off my shoes."
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